The Autumn Welsh Sale (Part I): Auctioneers' Choices

"What a belter of a sale" I am sure my Dad would have enthusiastically bellowed. But it really is! A tremendous third Welsh Sale of the year and they have all been brilliant this year. Is this the best of the three? Subjective, but the painting section here is fantastic with some prime examples from Wales favourite 20th Century artists. There is a brilliant section for Kyffin Williams including a major gathering of his iconic farmers - whether that be on paper, standing alone with a stick, or in oil paints on a rocky path with a bucket in hand. I am not sure I have ever seen so many of the old boys in one Welsh Sale, it is like a day at the mart! 

There are also showstoppers from McIntyre, Kevin Sinnott, Ceri Richards and John Elwyn, then there is the Valerie Ganz on the front cover of the catalogue which is one of the best and biggest I have seen. We are also privileged to offer two John Piper works and these are very sumptuous. I am especially taken with Lot 65, a French scene which is beautifully coloured and splendidly loose and busy as one would expect from an exhibition quality John Piper watercolour. Yep, this would be my choice I think (although I do fancy that Paul Peter Piech and Dafydd Iwan collaboration)! But yes...Lot 65 'Lucy Sur Yonne' by the wonderful John Piper. A Cherddyn ymlaen!

This delightful watercolour really caught my eye when it came into the saleroom. Though I’m not really an opera fan, I do greatly admire the work of John Macfarlane, with this depiction of the waiter from the dream scene in Engelbert Humperdinck's opera, Hansel and Gretel. Macfarlane designed the costumes and set for this 2008 production at the Metropolitan in New York.

This really is a spectacular work that expertly captures so much scale and detail, it is a painting one could never grow tired of. The fact Valerie Ganz spent real time with miners at the colliery and underground adds a real sense that she understood the subject matter she was depicting on an elevated level. You can almost hear the sounds and sense the heaviness of the moment. Remarkable!

Looking at the incredibly broad spectrum of art here it is, as always, difficult to single out a favourite. I tend to be a bit conservative in my taste, there is a Donald McIntyre and a Will Roberts that I would find wall space for, also lot 213, the cracking Gwilym Prichard oil.

But an artist I think I’ve selected here before, Edwin ‘Ed’ Vincent Forrest has two works here, and the one that really stands out for me is Lot 216, oil on board ‘Red Sail’.

Forrest was not born in Wales but lived and worked here periodically and became a full-time member of the RCA in 1959. 

Great composition, vivid red sail reflecting in the water, whitewashed cottage and rolling hills beyond, under a slightly less ominous looking sky that can be a characteristic of his works.

I like this little drawing. Whilst we may be familiar with the artist's depiction of night in the Rhondda, this appears to be a quiet departure of moonlit solitude.

His use of colour is well observed, the night often mistaken as simply dark to our eyes is in fact, full of colour, light and shade.

I am of the view however that this little landscape is currently fighting with the card mount and if I were fortunate enough to own it, I would certainly explore remounting and possible reframing. Only then, will the gravitas of this diminutive work be realised.

What are your favourite lots from The Autumn Welsh Sale (Part I)? View the full catalogue here.